I stood at the intimidating staircase in front of the schoolhouse watching semi-familiar faces walking in and out; they didn’t seem to recognise me though. I closed my eyes, drew a deep breath, and took my first steps up the staircase, feeling almost as if I was about to throw up from the tension rising in my belly. Every step felt more challenging than the last; then, finally, I entered through the heavy metal doors. Memories, both good and bad, rushed through my mind. I clutched the straps of my backpack as I walked further down the endless hallway.
All of them! They were staring at me. Why were they staring at me? What did I do? Their rejective gazes gave me goosebumps. Only a few seconds in school again and it felt like a lifetime from how awful it was. I covered my embarrassed face and ran to the bathroom; the only place I felt safe.
I opened an empty stall and sat on the fairly clean toilet seat. I covered my face in my hands, “Come on,” I gently whispered to myself, “you can do this. It’s only a few hours, and then I’ll be home. It’s not like it’s the end of the world.”
I grabbed my phone from my backpack and saw mom had texted me, “Hope you’re doing well, sweetie. I packed your favorite lunch.”
I gave a quick smile and forgot about my worries for a brief moment. Suddenly, the door to the bathroom carelessly slammed open. I quickly raised my feet and my backpack so they wouldn’t see me. I heard it was a group of girls. I tried listening to what they were talking about but, suddenly, one of the girls tried to open my stall’s door.
“Who’s in there?” She asked aggressively, yanking against the door, “Come on, don’t be shy.”
“Leave me alone.” I quietly replied.
“Oh, so you do talk.” she said sarcastically, “Well, in that case, I’m sure you can follow the rules too.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Everyone knows the bathroom is reserved for us in the mornings.”
“Well, just give me a second, okay?” the anxiety in my stomach started to grow as she continued to yank on the door.
“Listen, we reserved this bathroom in the morning. It doesn’t mean you can just waltz in here and stink it up for us.”
“Ew, what? I’m not even doing that. Just give me a second, please.” I put my phone back in my backpack and stood up. As she was pulling on the door I waited for the perfect opportunity to release the lock. When it came, the door slammed open and made her lose her balance and tumble into the sink behind her, “Oops, sorry about that.” I said with a smirk.
As soon as I realized what I had done, I saw that it wasn’t a very good idea. The other two girls turned to me with flames in their eyes ready to fight for their, ‘leader’.
“You messed up brat!” She yelled while trying to pull herself out of the sink.
“It was an honest mistake. I’m sorry.” I said again while trying to get out of the bathroom, but the other girls blocked my way.
“Wait a second, I don’t recognize you. You must be that rat who told the principal what we did.”
“No, sorry, that wasn’t me. Today’s my first day.” I replied, still trying to push my way to the door.
She finally got to her feet and grabbed me by my shoulders, staring into my eyes. I tried to push her away but it was too late, she saw what I’d been trying to hide.
“What the-” she pushed me to the floor, “What even are you?” she asked in disgust
“I’m a girl, what else would I be.” I started to look down at the floor.
“Your eyes, they’re red, just like a demon!” She fiendishly joked, and the other girls started to laugh.
“That’s not funny, you know.” I firmly said while trying to get back to my feet with no success because they held me down.
She squatted down at my level and brushed the hair away from my face, “Don’t be so feisty, we get it. I’d be upset too if I couldn’t get a boyfriend.”
“If I were a boy, I’d be scared if she was a succubus.” One of the other girls butted in.
“Hm, I wouldn’t worry about that. Aren’t succubuses supposed to be pretty? I doubt any boy would fall for something so pathetic.”
“Maybe she’s a disappointment succubus.” The other girl said with an evil smirk.
They all gave out a nefarious laugh as they continued to hold me down on the dirty bathroom floor, “Please let me go. I just want to get to class.”
“For sure, sweetheart! But it’ll cost ya!” she said in a high, mocking tone.
“I don’t sound like that.”
“Of course you do! You sound like you haven’t even hit puberty yet and-” she looked me up and down, “that would explain your-”
“Enough!” I retaliated, breaking free from one of the girl’s grasps and clawed at the leader’s face. “What have I done?” I thought while bringing my hand back. My nails had been covered with blood, “I’m super sorry!”
The leader fell to her knees, holding pressure on her wound, “What are you, a cat?!”
“Oh my gosh, are you okay?” the other girl loosened her grip from my shoulder.
Now was my chance! I finally was able to get to the door and be free. As I swung the door open, I could hear the leader cry out, “What are you doing, morons?! Don’t let her get away!”
I slipped through the door and clumsily tripped barely 5 feet away. I fell to my hands and knees and heard a sweet deep voice ask me, “Are you okay?”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
I looked up and was greeted by a tall, handsome boy. He had beautiful blue eyes, and short, pretty hazelnut hair. He wore a cute green cotton sweater and blue jeans. He held out his large, strong hand to help me back to my feet, “I-I… um-” My face started to become bright crimson. As I pondered whether or not to take his hand, I heard the bathroom door open, “I gotta get to class!” I said while pulling myself up and running away, leaving him scratching his head.
I finally made it to my first class, English. I sat, hiding long before anyone showed up. Soon enough, the classroom started to fill with students. I held my chin watching the students walking in one by one; trying not to draw much attention to myself. I noticed one familiar face walk in. It was the same boy who tried to help me earlier. I looked away, embarrassed. And of course, to make things even more awkward, he had to take the seat directly behind me.
Shortly after, the teacher walked in, holding her clipboard of papers. She cleared her throat and spoke, “Alright, let’s see here, we have… oh! One returning student and one student. Okay, can Ivy and Victor please come to the front of the class and introduce yourselves?”
I stood up and felt my legs start to shake beneath me as I walked to the front of the class. I looked behind me and was startled that the boy from earlier was following me to the front.
“Why don’t you start, Ivy?” The teacher said with enthusiasm.
“Okay.” I drew a deep breath and let it go slowly, seeing the whole class staring at me. I hung my head and stared at the floor, pretending I wasn’t standing in front of a crowd, “I’m Ivy. I’m not sure if any of you remember me, but I stopped coming here for a few months and now I’m back… so, yeah.”
“Why don’t you tell us a fun fact about yourself?” The teacher spoke up once again.
“Um- sure… I like drawing.” I felt a sharp pain from the stares of the class, each one looking more critical than the last.
“Oh, how fun! What do you like drawing.”
“Oh gosh, why won’t this end?!” I thought to myself.
I clenched my teeth and replied, “Well, I haven’t drawn in a while, but I like drawing scenery. Like, forests and stuff like that.”
“Nerd!” a student yelled and initiated the rest of the class to start laughing like a wild pack of hyenas.
“Okay, settle down everyone. I think that’s really cool, Ivy. I would love to see your art one day.” She turned toward Victor and said, “Okay, now it’s your turn, Victor.”
He confidently announced, “Hello, my name is Victor and, I just moved here with my family and, one fun fact about me is I like drawing too.”
“Oh? And what do you like drawing?”
“I actually like drawing in anime style. I specialize in drawing people.” he said proudly.
“Weeb!” the same voice shouted, hoping for the same reaction. This time, nobody laughed.
“Please, settle down. Alright, very cool you two. I am happy that you two can be here today and learn with the rest of us. You may go back to your seats.”
“How did he do that?” I thought, “Why did everyone laugh at me, and no one laughed at him?! Am I just… an easy target?”
I sat down for the rest of the class, zoning out and watching the clouds glide through the sky. Before I knew it, the bell rang and it was finally over.
After a few more boring classes, it was finally lunchtime, finally time to see what my mom had packed me! I found a quiet place in the hallway to eat my lunch, I knew I couldn’t handle the cafeteria by myself, even if I could find a seat. I grabbed my bag and dug my hand around, looking for my food. I felt a plastic Tupperware and gently pulled it out. Inside was orange chicken and rice.
“Yum! When did she have time to make this?” I said to myself as I opened the lid and smelled the sweet aroma of the chicken filling the air around me. I grabbed the chicken and rice with my hands, being too hungry to find the forks she had packed me. My eyes filled with bliss as I took a bite of the crispy sweet chicken mixed with the soft rice, “Delicious!” I said in a louder tone.
I quickly grabbed my phone to text her thank you for the food and saw my screen had been broken in the fight I had been in, “Aw man, that sucks.”
“What was that?” I heard the deep handsome voice of Victor. I let out a high-pitched scream and dropped my phone. It slid between his feet and he noticed the broken screen, “I’m so sorry!” he said in a higher tone, “I can pay for the screen for you, I didn’t mean to startle you like that!”
He grabbed my phone and handed it back to me, “Oh no, don’t worry about it.” I said in the sweetest voice possible, “It was already cracked, it’s not your fault.” I blushed.
“Oh, what a relief. Regardless, I still apologize for startling you.” He sat down next to me.
“No worries, you’re good!” My hands started to shake, “So~ what brings you here?”
“I was actually looking for you.”
“Say what-now!” I softly shouted.
“Yeah, I was looking for you because you seem like the only reasonable person here. Everyone else seems kinda… jerky”
“You can say that again.” I chuckled, “So you like drawing anime characters?”
“Yeah! Well, no one in particular… I like to make my own.”
“That’s super cool!”
“Thanks, and you draw scenery?”
“That’s right, I like drawing natural stuff… but my favorite gotta be forests. I really love them for some reason.”
“I really like forests too. That’s why I was kinda happy about moving here. You guys have really beautiful forests.”
“Oh really? Where’d you live before here?”
“We lived in the desert. I know some people think it’s beautiful. I just like a little more color, you know?”
“I feel ya!” My eyes sparkled as I smiled in reply.
“Your eyes…” He was shocked.
“Oh,” I looked back down at my food, “I’m sorry, I’m saving up money for contacts to make them look normal.”
“Why would you do that?” he asked with surprise.
“Because,” I thought back, “They look like demon eyes… or rat eyes… they’re just ugly.”
“They’re so pretty though,” he said while lifting my chin so he could look back into my eyes. As his fingers gently lifted my chin and we made eye contact; I felt a jolt of electricity race down to my heart and forced it to pound harder against my chest. I started to become dizzy and felt as if I was going to faint. My eyes dilated and turned into hearts as I stared back at him. I felt all my stress leave my body, and my nausea faded.
I quickly pushed his hand away, “I’m sorry. I’m just not used to boys touching me like that.” I looked back into his pretty blue eyes, wishing that I had eyes like him, “They’re just red… like a demon.”
“But, they’re not red. They’re pink.” He said in a cute voice.
My heart pounded even faster and I felt my face growing hotter. Suddenly, the bell rang, and I quickly jumped to my feet, “I gotta go!” I said while running as fast as I could to my next class.